Chapter Ten
After dinner, Kurt returned to Ethan's room and sat in the chair beside Blaine. The younger boy had finished two more cups of Thad's medicinal tea, and had looked much improved, if still weak and exhausted. They had talked about different things for a while, such as fashion and Blaine's bow tie fetish, as well as music. It felt both strange and comforting how easily they spoke with each other. There were no awkward gaps in conversation, and no end of topics they seemed willing to talk about. It really did feel like they had known each other forever. Blaine had started yawning around ten, and had begun to doze off, but Kurt still hadn't wanted to leave him alone.
He'd spoken to his dad earlier. Burt had still been a little in shock at the news, but once Joseph and Kevin had figured out how to unbind his powers, Burt had shown some natural talent at moving objects around the house, and had even summoned the sports guide he'd left at the garage.
Kurt had gotten comfortable in the overstuffed armchair, and was now falling asleep himself.
The door opened and Kurt looked up, frowning at the boy who entered. The auburn haired young man looked agitated, tears streaking his cheeks as he paced in front of the fireplace. After several moments, he moved to the desk and sat down, pulling a leather bound journal from the bottom drawer. Kurt couldn't help wondering if every member of The Dalton Circle had such a book.
He stood and moved to stand next to the boy, reading over his shoulder as the boy began to write.
My heart is shattered. All this time I thought perhaps Devon felt the same as I do, but today my world came crashing down. Today Devon confessed his love...
His love for the human boy, Jeremiah, in his English class.
Oh, I smiled and told him I was happy for him, while inside, my heart slowly ceased to beat. The pain is almost unbearable. I do not know if I can continue as if nothing has changed between us, pretending he is nothing more than my best friend.
I have heard that there is a Line of amulet makers who can create emotion cages. Perhaps I shall seek them out, and have them create one for me. I can lock away the pain, and my love for Devon, so that I can still look upon him as my friend. Of course, I cannot tell anyone in The Circle its true nature. I shall have to come up with another explanation for it…
Kurt blinked, feeling a tear slip down his cheek as the memory faded. Poor Ethan, to feel so broken and alone.
His thoughts drifted to the locket and suddenly, with this memory vision, and Mercedes' explanation of the truth about the locket, he was able to figure out what emotion Ethan had used it for. "Oh my Gaga," he whispered.
"Kurt?" Blaine called out groggily, noticing the empty seat beside the bed. Thad was asleep on the couch in the corner.
Kurt looked back at the bed, before looking at the desk again. Was Ethan's journal in that drawer, he wondered. "I'm here, Blaine," he called out softly, giving the desk one last glance before moving back to his seat. "Go back to sleep, sweetie. You need to rest."
…
Kurt opted to take breakfast in Ethan's room just so he could spend a few extra moments with Blaine. He couldn't help doting on the boy, but in the back of his mind, what he'd seen in that memory vision was nagging at him. He'd remembered to write it down before he forgot any of it. He considered telling Wes right away, but thought maybe it might be a better idea to just tell everyone at once during the meeting.
He had felt a little better when Blaine had managed to eat the scrambled eggs and toast Wes had sent up for him. His color was better, and he was stronger than he had been the night before. Thad had made another tea for him, and Beatz and Mercedes had spent part of the evening the night before working on an amulet that combined Beatz's healing powers and Mercedes' protective charms abilities. Beatz had dropped it off on his way down to the dinning hall, and it now rested around Blaine's neck.
Kurt brushed some of Blaine's curls off his forehead, smiling down at the boy. "You look a lot better this morning," he said when Thad went to use the bathroom.
"I feel a lot better, too," he replied. "Thad says he thinks most of the dark magic that was attacking me has been driven out. I'll probably be pretty weak for a few days, though. And I don't know if I will be able to See or have prophetic dreams for a while, either."
"That's okay, sweetie," Kurt said. "We just want you better. I don't think Andrew is able to keep using dark magic on you. When Nick told us what he wanted, he said he wanted Nick to get you out of this room. I don't think he can come in here. Ethan's residual light energy is too powerful. It might be blocking any new dark magic he could be trying to cast on you, as well." He paused for a moment. "You don't know anyone named Jeremiah, do you?" he asked suddenly.
Blaine frowned. "Not that I recall. Why?"
Kurt just smiled at him sweetly. "Good. If you do meet a Jeremiah though, just remember, he'll never be as awesome as me."
Blaine looked confused for a moment, but shrugged it off. "I don't think there is anyone as awesome as you."
Kurt blushed, feeling the warmth crawl right up around his ears. He tried to shake it off, rubbing his thumb over the back of the hand he was holding. "And no one is as awesome as you either, Blaine," he said.
A light tapping on the door interrupted them as Wes entered with David, Mercedes, Santana, Trent, and several other boys. "Sorry to intrude," Wes said. "Glad to see you looking so much better, Blaine."
"I think as long as he stays in here, Andrew's magic can't affect him," Kurt said. "Why is everyone here? Are we going to try and have the meeting in this room so Blaine can take part?"
Wes shrugged. "It's the only solution. I'd much rather have the meeting in the Sanctuary, with a proper ceremony beforehand, but for now, we will just have to go informal."
David rolled his eyes. "Oh please, Wes. Even emergency meetings are meticulously planned with you at the helm," he said.
Blaine was nodding from his place on the bed. "I don't think Wes understands the word 'impromptu.' The Warblers practice those performances within an inch of our lives, and the notifications on when and where they will be are posted at least three days in advance."
The boys all laughed as Wes mock glared at his two fellow Founders Heirs. He pulled out his gavel and banged it on the desk in the room. "Anyway, regardless, everyone take a seat. This meeting of The Dalton Circle will come to order. First, I'd like to welcome our guests, Mercedes and Santana, who have agreed to help in any way that they can."
Beatz nodded. "Mercedes has already been a great help in creating the amulet for Blaine." Mercedes just offered the boy a smile.
"Wes, I have a place I think we can start," Kurt said. "I had another memory vision dream thing."
The older boy looked intrigued. "Did you write it down?"
Kurt nodded. "First, I think it's important for you to know something. Ethan's locket was not used for protection from evil. Ethan made that up because he didn't want the Circle to know it's true use. Mercedes informed me yesterday that it's an emotional cage locket, used to conceal emotions. And she knew that because her family made it."
Wes looked to the girl for confirmation. Mercedes nodded. "I recognized it the moment I laid eyes on it. My Line always keeps sketches of every amulet and charm we make. And it still has emotions locked inside it. A lot of emotions."
"Right," Kurt said. "So then the question was, what was Ethan locking in it? Well, I found out from the memory vision." He paused, giving the boys and girls a chance to react.
There were several murmurings among the boys, and a curious look from Mercedes. "What did you see, boo?"
"Ethan came in and pulled a leather bound journal out of that desk," he said pointing to the same desk Wes had banged the gavel on. "He looked really upset. I read what he was writing over his shoulder. He said his heart was shattered because that day Devon told him he was in love with a human boy named Jeremiah. Ethan wrote that he had heard of a Line that could make an amulet that acted as an emotion cage. He wanted to lock up the love he felt for Devon so he could continue being his friend without hurting that he didn't feel the same way."
There was a stunned silence in the room when he finished speaking. Wes had to clear his throat twice before he could continue. "Well, that answers part of the mystery, at least."
"So, that confirms some of what was suspected all along," David said. "Ethan was in love with Devon."
Trent was frowning. "I don't recall any of our ancestors talking about Devon with a human boy."
Kurt looked over at him. "Maybe Devon disappeared before he could say anything to the human boy."
Wes was shaking his head. "Ethan had that locket for almost a year before they disappeared."
"So then, maybe the human boy turned him down," Blaine spoke up, reminding everyone he was in the room.
David looked thoughtful, but before he could speak up, Thad broke the silence. "Have we learned anything else since yesterday?"
"You mean besides Smythe's ability to magically blow up cars?" Santana quipped.
David shrugged. "It's a simple reversed compression spell. Instead of pressure crushing the item, it forces the molecules to expand outward, causing an explosion that isn't actually an explosion."
"Andrew has been all over Marysville," Trent said. "The moment we entered, I could sense dark magic coming from all directions."
Before anyone could reply to him, Kurt suddenly spoke up again. "I found something else," he said. He went over to where he'd left his messenger bag and retrieved the journal. "I was going to ask, did everyone in the 1901 chapter have a leather bound journal?"
"Kurt, where did you get that?" Wes asked.
"It was under the floorboards in the basement with the locket. I think it's Matthew's."
There were louder murmurs this time as the boys talked excitedly among themselves. Wes banged the gavel again. "Have you read it?" he asked.
Kurt shook his head. "I haven't had the chance to yet. I was considering waiting to bring it up until after I'd had the opportunity to look through it."
The older boy looked at him once more. "Would you mind if David or I looked through it?"
Kurt hesitated briefly. It was his great great grandfather's journal, after all. All he had ever known about the man was the stories Grandpa Niall used to tell about him from when he was a little boy, but Matthew had passed away when Niall was twelve, so there really hadn't been a lot to learn from him. He wanted to know more about the man. "Perhaps we can go over it together after the meeting?" he suggested.
Wes nodded in understanding, even as one of the other boys raised his hand. "What about Blaine's visions from yesterday? Was there anything new in them that could shed some light?"
Thad cleared his throat. "Wes said something to Blaine that made him repeat the truth unspoken and vow unbroken and then he added something else I don't recall. But more curiously, he made a couple prophecies involving a female."
All eyes in the room turned to Mercedes and Santana. "What did he say?" Mercedes asked.
"Well, the first one basically said she was being lured into a trap," Thad said. "Wes, do you remember the other one?"
"She walks in the light, two Lines collide," he recalled. He had nearly perfect recollection most of the time. "There was a second part about a man, as well."
Mercedes glanced at Santana. "That sounds like you."
"A trap," Kurt said. "Satan, Andrew blew up your car."
Several of the boys raised their eyebrows at Kurt's nickname for the girl, exchanging curious glances. The Latina just shrugged it off. "I'm aware of that, Kurt, but thank you for reminding me." She looked back at Wes. "You know my Line's history. You know who I am related to."
Before Wes could say anything, Kurt shook his head. "No, Santana. I think he was trying to lure you into a trap. And maybe he blew up your car because Trent, Mercedes, and I got in the way or something."
She let out a sigh. "Kurt, Andrew Smythe has killed nearly every member of his own family. He tried to kill me because my side of the family turned to the light and walked away from the Smythe name."
It was Trent who answered her. "Wait, if you knew it might have been a trap, why did you go in the first place?"
She glanced at him. "What is the second law of The Great Circle?"
The younger witch was confused by her question, but answered it. "If darkness grows within your Line, you must cut it out."
A thought suddenly struck Wes. "Santana, do you know that Andrew Smythe is the same Andrew Smythe who disappeared in 1901?"
She crossed her arms and shifted her weight. "Our family has suspected that for some time now. Why do you think Thomas Smythe has kept his precious little brat, Sebastian locked away? He's terrified Andrew will slaughter the boy and take his place."
The boys all looked at each other and Nick shifted uncomfortably. "It may already be too late for that. Andrew told me directly that he killed his twin brother and wasn't above murder."
Santana narrowed her eyes at him. "That's impossible. How would he have managed to do that with Sebastian locked up?"
"Probably the same way he managed to infiltrate Dalton and get into the Circle library undetected," Nick said.
She frowned harder. "He's already managed to breach your protection spells and glamour himself as one of you?"
Nick nodded. "When I asked how he got through the wards, he waved it off and called it child's play."
Kurt was frowning as a thought crossed his mind. "I'm not exactly sure how glamour works. Is it just a surface image, or does he actually become the person he is impersonating? I mean, like at a DNA level?"
"Depends on the strength of the person's individual skill," Trent said. "But the one thing none of them has ever been able to do, is replicate a person's special abilities."
"So, he can change his DNA to match someone else. Would that confuse your wards? Would it read the type of magic he has, or just that a witch in general is trying to pass through?"
Wes' eyes went wide. "Kurt, you're suggesting that he was already impersonating someone when he entered the hidden chamber. It would have had to be someone in this room, because anyone would have noticed an out of place adult wandering the campus on a Saturday morning."
The boys all looked at each other, wondering which of them it could have been.
Kurt frowned. "That leaves a very small window of opportunity. When David did the reveal spell the night before, the campus was clear of imposters, and it was already pretty late in the evening. So he had to have slipped onto campus unnoticed sometime between then and the next morning when he attacked Nick and Jeff."
"Any student, witch or human, must sign in or out when returning after curfew or before the weekend secretary arrives," Wes said. "It's possible Andrew skipped through without signing, but if he wanted to blend in, he would have followed standard protocol."
"I don't think any one of us was alone from the moment Kurt and I arrived onward," Trent said. "But...what if whomever Andrew impersonated, he got them before Kurt's ceremony? He would be privy to everything we discussed that night."
Wes didn't look happy. "I don't think that's possible, Trent. David's spell that cancelled out Andrew's glamour of Jeff would prevent him from trying to take another form for a few days, at least. All the boys are here, present and accounted for, right now. If any of them didn't attend the meeting for one reason or another Friday night, they would tell us they weren't there."
None of the boys spoke up, and a general sigh of relief went up around the room, thankful that Andrew at least hadn't infiltrated their meeting and overheard their talk. Wes looked them over. "I will have someone check the sign in sheets for Friday night and Saturday morning. If Andrew followed protocol to blend in, we will at least know who he impersonated."
They spent another half hour discussing different theories and making suggestions. One of the boys inquired of Mercedes if there were charms or amulets that could be used to prevent Smythe from impersonating any of them.
Mercedes had said that unfortunately, there wasn't an amulet that could prevent it, but she could make something that would be able to alert them to the nearby presences of dark magic.
Wes nodded his head. "Beatz can assist you if you need it. Why don't you two get started on that? The faster you can make them, the better." Mercedes and Beatz nodded and left the room. "If no one else has anything else to contribute, I think we will adjourn until we have something more to report. Thank you all for coming."
Everyone left except Wes, David, Kurt and Santana. "Do you guys mind if I hang around?" The Latina asked. "Not really anything else for me to do right now."
Kurt just shrugged. "The more heads to try and figure this out, the better," he said, not moving from his spot beside Blaine's bed.
Wes just nodded. "Perhaps one of us should read the journal out loud, so that we aren't all cramped around the book trying to read over each other's shoulders."
"I'm fine with that," David said. "Kurt?"
The glasz eyed boy nodded. "I'll read it." It was his family's history, after all.
Kurt began to read out loud, just skimming over the mundane day to day stuff, until he reached an entry that seemed pertinent.
I have been filled with such anger lately, I fear I may be losing my mind. I have never been jealous of my older brother before, but ever since he took his seat at the Founders Table, I can't help noticing how everyone differs to him now, while I am still treated as a child. I don't know where this anger and dare I say, hate is coming from. I love Ethan. I love my family. Why do I suddenly feel like this?
Blaine frowned. "What? So Matthew just started hating Ethan out of the blue? That doesn't make any sense."
David looked thoughtful for a moment. "It sounds like he knows he has no reason to hate him and wants to know why. If it happened that suddenly, do you think he was being manipulated?"
"Manipulated by who?" Wes asked. "When was that entry dated?"
Kurt examined the page. "It's smudged, I can't read the exact day, but the month is September, 1901."
Wes and David exchanged glances. "The Smythes joined right around the end of September. And then everything else went down about a month later," Wes said.
Blaine raised an eyebrow. "I'm not an expert on Glamour, but I seem to recall that those with the power are always a younger twin, while the older twin may develop their own talents. I wonder what Charles' talent was?"
"It's possible he could have been manipulating Matthew with dark magic," David said. "What else does the journal say, Kurt?"
The auburn haired boy read through a few more pages, though none of them seemed to be related to the previous one. And then he reached one dated October thirtieth, 1901.
May the Goddess forgive me, for I have stolen from my own flesh. While my brother slept, I crept into his room and stole the protective locket from him. He claims Grandfather gave it to him on the day he died, and that it would protect him from evil, but I am the one who needs the protection. I fear evil is seeping into my bones, and growing stronger each day. Perhaps the locket is my only hope for redemption. I hope Ethan will understand one day and forgive me.
"So, he stole the locket because he thought it would protect him from evil?" Santana spoke up, arching an eyebrow.
Kurt shook his head. "I don't get it. Ethan had that locket for a year before all this happened. How did Matthew never realize his brother was not telling the truth about what it was?"
Wes shook his head. "Matthew had no reason to believe his brother was lying. And it wasn't in his powers to sense the true nature of the locket. Mercedes would have recognized it on the spot."
"She did," Kurt interrupted.
Wes nodded and continued, glancing to Santana. "You might even have recognized it for what it was, but no one here at Dalton at that time would have thought it anything other than what Ethan claimed it to be."
It was Blaine's turn to shake his head. "No one is so good a liar that not even those who know them inside and out can pick up on something. Devon should have known that there was something Ethan wasn't saying, if they were as close as the stories tell us they were. But that wouldn't explain why Matthew didn't catch a hint, being Ethan's brother. Unless the two brothers weren't as close as we've assumed either."
Kurt wasn't sure he agreed with Blaine about Devon noticing that Ethan had lied. Some people were very good at hiding their emotions and personal pains. Hadn't Kurt himself been hiding just how bad the bullying had gotten from his dad since before his heart attack? As for the rest of Blaine's question, "It may not have been that they weren't close, but rather with the age difference, they just had a different circle of friends they hung out with and weren't as involved with each other's lives to notice."
"What was the age difference?" Santana asked. "No one has clarified anything more than Ethan was older than Matthew."
"Ethan was seventeen, and Matthew was thirteen," David supplied.
Santana frowned. "Then what was Matthew doing at Dalton already? Unless back then it was more than just for high school, he wouldn't have been there yet."
"Matthew was a very intelligent boy. He skipped a year, and was welcomed at Dalton, where he was welcomed into The Circle," Wes said. He turned back to Kurt. "Is there anything in there from the next day, or even after? We know that Matthew left Dalton two days after Ethan's disappearance, returning home to his father for a year, before he ran away and bound his magic."
Kurt turned the page and frowned. "I can't read this. It's covered in ink splotches, and what looks like water stains. I can only make out a few words, and it's dated the first of November."
"The morning Winston's body was found," David said soundly. "Water stains?"
Wes looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe he was crying," he said, remembering the vision Kurt had seen in Matthew's room.
"What words can you read?" Blaine asked, looking up at Kurt.
Kurt studied the page more carefully, squinting as he tried to make out the writing. "Ethan, dark magic. Winston, blood, demon. I think this word is possessed. And at the very end it says, 'I have led my brother to this. It is my fault.'"
Almost in exact unison, the four boys all turned their attention to the demon vessel still sitting under Kurt's chair.
"Wait," David said. "Winston? Blood?"
Wes' eyes got very wide. "Oh my Goddess! Blaine said something in his visions about an unseen witness. You don't think…?"
"Matthew saw what happened to Winston," David and Kurt said at almost the same time.
Kurt's eyes went back to the vessel. "I think he said something about demonic possession," he said.
Wes was frowning. "That doesn't make any sense. If Ethan was possessed, then who was the one who sent the letter to his father months later? The demon wouldn't have bothered."
"Maybe Matthew was off," Blaine said. "Maybe Ethan wasn't the one who was possessed. Don't forget, we know Devon was the target of whatever happened that night."
"But why would Matthew say he had led his brother to this if Ethan wasn't the one who was possessed?" Santana inquired.
Kurt was quiet for a moment. "In the memory in his room I saw, Matthew said that his brother was lost. And given the entry about stealing the locket, something tells me he might have believed that Ethan was dabbling in dark magic."
They were all silent for a few minutes, until Blaine cleared his throat. "Did he write anything after that?"
Kurt thumbed through the journal. "The next entry is dated almost a year later, and all it says is, 'my past has caught up with me. I am undeserving of these powers.' Then there is nothing for almost forty years. 'I have been deceived. I now know the treachery that has been worked upon me. My health is failing, and I went to see a healer. They discovered the dark spell embedded inside my mind, and removed it, and I can see clearly now how very wrong I was all those years ago. Unfortunately it is too late. The malignancy of the spell has caused a tumor that is slowly killing me.
"'If one of my descendants should find this, please forgive me the ignorance of my youth and my irrational actions. May the Goddess release you from the chains I have placed on our magic. There is an object in the attic that holds a mystery I was too afraid to solve. Perhaps one day you can unravel the riddle and set them free.'"
Again the room was quiet and the four boys looked at the demon vessel. "He must have been talking about the vessel," Wes said.
Blaine had carefully taken the book from Kurt's hands. "But look at this," he said. "He wrote 'set them free,' as if there is more than one person trapped in that vessel."
They exchanged glances. "Ethan and Devon," Wes whispered.
"The light magic infusion must have been Ethan's magic," Kurt said. "You said Ethan made contact twice after they disappeared, so Ethan was the one who had to have bound it with light magic."
"Which means," David said, voice dropping to a near whisper. "Devon must have been the one possessed that night."
Santana was staring off into space as a thought struck her. "Ethan bound his love for Devon in the emotion cage, but do we really know what Devon's emotions were at the time? Did he keep a journal, as well? Everyone else from that era seems to have had one."
"I'll contact my father. Devon's room wasn't sealed the same way Ethan's was. If he had a journal, it's very likely it's still in there. Because Dalton was the last place anyone saw him."
"What if Johnathan took it though?" David asked. "He did have every right to, especially if he thought it might be able to give him answers."
Wes sighed. "Then we'll have to ask Joseph's permission to search Johnathan's estate as well."
Blaine tried to stifle the yawn that was building inside him, still tired and weak from fighting off the influences of dark magic. "You don't need my dad's permission. The estate was left to me when my grandfather passed away last year. The key is in a hidden rock behind the south pillar of the back porch."
Wes was momentarily surprised, but pulled himself together. "Then we'll split. A group of us will search Devon's room, and another group will search Johnathan's estate."
"We can figure that out later," Kurt said, glancing at Blaine. "Right now, I think we need a break. This one needs more rest."
Wes glanced at his watch. "It's nearly lunchtime anyway. I'll have Trent bring up some lunch for you both, and then he can stay with Blaine while he sleeps, and the rest of us can figure out who is searching where."